The Chicago Bears came to party on Sunday Night football. They jumped out to a 17-0 lead before the 2nd quarter. It seemed like Chicago just left the Steelers doing their own rendition of “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go”[1]. The Bears forced 5 turnovers while being able to hold on to the ball and not commit their own.

It’s Alive!

In the second quarter Pittsburgh found a little life with a well-played drive by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who did a good impression of Harry Houdini, by escaping containment and sacks left and right he was able to find Antonio Brown for the Steelers first touchdown of the night. After the half the Black and Yellow fans would have a reason get louder. While the Bears were cruising along with their 24 points, the Steelers were able to score 10 more points while the Bears relaxed and settled for only 3 more. With the score being 27-20 it would appear we had a game on our hands after a beautiful throw and one-handed catch by Antonio Brown.

Back to Action

The Bears offense did seem to wake up and realize that the Steelers were in striking distance. After the aforementioned “beautiful throw and one-handed catch” the Bears, or more-or-less Jay Cutler, put together a 5 minute scoring drive that ended in a Cutler-to-Earl Bennett exchange. With this the Bears were back in a comfortable position in the 4th quarter at 34-23, a Shaun Suisham kick coming on the drive before the Bears score.

The Nail(s) in the Coffin

With the reinvigorated offense came a more invigorated defense, resulting in a Steelers fumble on the very next drive and a returned touchdown by Julius Peppers after Lance Briggs knocked it out. This nail in the coffin put the Bears up 40-23, it would’ve been 41 but Troy Polamalu split the gap on the extra point for a well timed block. With their deficit being 17 points the Steelers looked to score with 3:57 remaining in the game. The drive lasted 90 seconds exactly but it ended in a turnover on downs. This gave the Bears 2:20 left in the game to put it away, but they ended up punting it away with 1:51 left on the clock. With their adrenaline up and 0-3 approaching them fast, the Steelers went to work. However, on the first play after the punt, Chris Conte intercepts a ball meant for Emmanuel Sanders and effectively ends Pittsburgh’s hopes of winning their first game of the season.

All was not horrible for the Steelers as Ben Roethlisberger played extremely well despite 2 interceptions by posting 26/41 for 402 passing yards. and Antonio Brown having both Steelers touchdowns and 9 catches for 196 yards. Had Chicago’s defensive line not played as well as it did we would be looking at a closer game. Yet, blitzes and an inexperienced offensive line do not spell success very often, something Jay Cutler knows very well. Congratulations to both teams as the Chicago Bears go on to Detroit next week and the Pittsburgh Steelers go to Minnesota.